Let's Go Learn About Thor, Ja!

Wednesday 3 April

I'm putting the "pro" in procrastination today, which is my life in a nutshell. Welcome to college, and also, life.

It took a Herculean effort to get out of bed this morning, because I'm a lazy, perpetually sleep deprived bum. But I did manage to shower, shave, blow dry AND straighten my hair, do Smartphysics, check Facebook, put on real pants (this is the third day, PS, which is an Accomplishment), AND bike to Duane from Kitt in under an hour. LIKE A PRO.

Then I had physics, where we learned about angular momentum and had a great discourse on it; and then my calves burned as I struggled up the hill to Survey of Western Political Thought and then I zoned out in that class since Mewes went on a tirade about the evolution of mankind or whatever (I did write half a paper, though, so it wasn't entirely wasted); and then concluded learning for the day with Chem II, where we learned about my favorite subject KINETICS! YAY RATE LAWS!

It was Quesadilla Wednesday at Farrand today which made the cluster of the line worth it. I then ate my feast with Sam and we lamented our choice of majors. Then I met Crissie for our weekly STARBUCKS DATE YEAH, after which we reposed because we're really cool.

Then I did some work in Kitt and then we went to dinner with some of Dan's friends, which was pretty entertaining to say the least. Then Crissie and Johnny and I reposed and I was a Canoe* as usual (which is fun sometimes) but Crissie and I are both pretty sleep deprived so we laughed a lot.

And then, as I sang, "It's time for us to go and learn about Thor yeah!"

So then Johnny and I went to an HRAP symposium** about Norse mythology, which I found fascinating. And not just because The Avengers is like my crack. We walked in slightly late to the professor, Dr. Ben Teitelbaum, reciting a Nordic poem, and we thought we'd mistakenly stumbled onto a cult meeting or something because it was trippy as hell. But we sat it out and it was awesome. We learned about the Norse creation story told in the Poetic Edda, largely an oral tradition but recorded by Christian monks when they arrived in Iceland. I like it, and it was a nice taste of what the hell I'm going to be doing spring semester when I deal with it again for my upper division Lit credit. Whaddup?

ANYWAY I liked it for several reasons. First of all, it reiterates the importance of stories in the human condition. Religion in general does this. Stories give us a reason to connect to each other and a reason to try and explain what the hell is going on. It's why I write these damn things: we have a voice and people will hear it if you speak up.

Secondly, it was rather scientifically resonant, which was mind blowing. In the beginning, the Norse say there was a crap ton of nothingness, otherwise known as Ginnungagap, surrounded on two sides by a land of ice (Niflheim) and a land of fire (Muspelheim). And it was only when the two worlds started to mix that the frost giant Ymir was formed, which was basically the genesis of Norse creation. Someone asked if it could be applied to the Big Bang, and I honestly think it can. In the beginning there was a lot of nothingness, and if you follow the quantum mechanics of it all, there was a bunch of matter and a bunch of antimatter, and when these two dual types of matter started to mix, it created the universe. And since I'm a science geek who is enormously fond of metaphorical resonance, it stuck with me. Pretty nifty sh*t, if you ask me. I'm excited for this class in a year. Disclaimer: I will likely regret that statement.

After that we grabbed some good refreshments and walked back to Hallett. The walk back was eventful, because we figured out Crissie's insomnia (spoiler alert: it's cursed pottery) and a long boarder ate it (I'm sorry, but I hate you all. You know why I rarely ride my bike anymore? It doesn't have brakes and I don't want to kill people by playing chicken with them. You know what else lacks brakes? YOUR FREAKING LONGBOARD. MOVE, BITCH, GET OUT THE WAY).

After that I finished my Norlin paper but still have an ethics one to write (yay caffeine and Hans Zimmer's soundtracks. Motivation for the WIN) and came back to Smith, where work is kind of getting done. Hell yes.

So I guess what we take away from today is that sleep deprivation ROCKS, appreciate the little things, do work, and metaphorical resonance abounds if you only look closer. So look closer. You never know what you'll find :)

Thanks for reading :)

*Let's say a couple is Lewis and Clark—forever joined at the hip. What's always with them and has their backs (not Seaman the dog because that's just awkward)? THEIR CANOE (aka, Me). Also known as a third wheel. They join together in packs sometimes—known as canoe pools, their gatherings are socially awkward, embittered, and almost always contain copious amounts of debauchery.

**HRAP—Honors Residential Academic Program, which I am forever indebted to because they give us the opportunity to see cool sh*t like this. And I like cool sh*t, as you'll discover.